President Donald Trump said on Monday that the United States would become the “guardian” of the Strait of Hormuz and seek a 20% reimbursement fee on cargo moving through the waterway, but he reversed course the next day and said the fee would be replaced by trade and investment deals with Gulf partners.
President Donald Trump said Monday that the United States would be “the guardian of the Strait of Hormuz” and would seek to be “reimbursed” at a 20% rate on cargo shipped through the strategic waterway, according to his post on Truth Social and accounts of the remarks by multiple news outlets.
Trump’s proposal was paired with threats to restore a U.S. naval blockade aimed at Iran’s shipping, part of a rapidly escalating U.S.-Iran confrontation centered on security and control in and around the Strait of Hormuz.
By Tuesday, Trump publicly backed away from the idea of charging the 20% fee. In a new Truth Social post, he said “Oil is flowing like never before” and that he would replace the reimbursement fee “with Trade and Investment Deals” involving Gulf states. He also repeated that Iran “will never have a nuclear weapon.”
The proposal drew immediate questions about legality and enforceability from shipping and international maritime authorities and was described by experts as unprecedented and likely inconsistent with long-standing rules governing transit passage.
Market reaction and the broader economic impact were less clear. Commentary in The Nation said gas prices “shot up” and oil futures spiked after Trump’s initial announcement; other reporting in the days around the proposal focused more on the operational risks to shipping and the conflict’s potential to disrupt energy flows than on attributing specific price moves to the fee plan alone.
The episode unfolded against the backdrop of a memorandum of understanding signed on June 17, which has been cited in some reporting as a point of dispute over transit rights and routes through the strait.
